by David Jones, USA TODAY Sports

by David Jones, USA TODAY Sports

For the past few months, Florida was the rage of the Southeastern Conference. Way better than everyone else, a team destined to run away with the league title. Kentucky, albeit the defending national champion, was the whipping boy. The Wildcats dropped a couple of games and they were left for dead.

And here we are.

As the Big Blue Nation frowned, John Calipari kept working, kept challenging. And started winning. As the Gator Nation delighted, Arkansas handed Florida a dose of reality last Tuesday -- an 80-69 loss that not only stopped a 10-game winning streak but made things in the SEC very interesting again.

Florida (19-3 overall, 9-1 in SEC play) is 11-0 at home this season but has lost five straight to the Wildcats going into Tuesday's 7 p.m. game (ESPN) against Kentucky (17-6, 8-2) and has won just two of the last 11 meetings in the series.

UK has won a season-high five straight games coming into tonight. Once again, UK has huge balance with five players averaging in double figures. And the smiles are gone in Gainesville. They're back in Lexington.

"They play well in their building. It will be a hard game for us to win,'' Calipari said. "Let's put it this way, they were an Elite Eight team last year, should have been in the Final Four, were one game short of that, and they've got everybody back. And college basketball isn't what it was a year ago, so that's how a good a challenge, or how big a challenge and how good of a team they are.''

Wildcats forward Kyle Wiltjer: "They have great guards that get out and run, so our guards are going to have to step up. It's going to be a big game so everyone is really going to have to play great. We are excited for practice today to prepare for them.''

Wiltjer thinks things have changed for the better during the current streak.

"We feel ready,'' he said. "We have had a lot of tests before and I feel like we are improving every day, so it is going to be a great battle for us and hopefully we can learn from it.''

Calipari said there are no secrets. It's time for Kentucky to show it's better and guard play will be huge.

"I just feel like this is someplace where we want to stay, but we're also not where we want to be,'' Wildcats guard Archie Goodwin said. "We're honestly not worried about rankings right now; we just want to keep getting better. And as long as we keep getting better, everything else will take care of itself.''

Florida's Kenny Boynton will be making his 128th career start, which ties him with Andrew DeClerq for the most in school history. A win would give Billy Donovan, who is 1-7 vs. Calipari since he took the UK job, his 15th straight 20 win season. Only Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim have longer active streaks.

Calipari's dominance over the Gators isn't viewed by Donovan as a coach vs. coach thing. And Donovan notes the game only counts as one result, that life has to go on -- quickly -- regardless of the outcome.

"I've always felt that playing against teams like that, like a Kentucky. I think ultimately it makes you better, getting a chance to play against them twice,'' Donovan said. "If we're fortunate enough to win the game Tuesday, there's another game coming Saturday, there's another game coming after that. The world doesn't stop.

"It's one game right now. It's an important game right now and it's the next game on our schedule right now, one we want to continue to move forward on, but I really never, ever get wrapped up in that kind of stuff. Clearly the last three or four years just incredible talent and incredible pieces and they've been very, very gifted and they've been a very, very hard team to beat. I think John has done a terrific job with his team. But for us right now, this is an important game because it's right in front of us right now and this is the next one. After this one is over with our focus is going to have to shift right to Auburn.''

Boynton is not counting up the losses to Big Blue.

"I think it's a new team, new players,'' he said of Kentucky. "I think that's the past, we lost five straight, but it's time for us to start a new trend. Hopefully we go from here, win (tonight) and we make it five straight. We've just got to come out (tonight) and play.''

But fellow guard Scottie Wilbekin is.

"They beat us three times last year, and that's really embarrassing to lose to a team three times in one year,'' he said.

While the players have changed, Boynton said Kentucky looks similar.

"I think it's their same offense. Honestly, I think their talent's the same. Archie Goodwin I think is a great driver. I think they've got a good, solid team. Despite what their record is, I think lately they've gotten better,'' he said.

Size is going to be an issue for Florida against Kentucky, especially with Will Yeguete out for at least the rest of the regular season with a knee injury

"I think it's something we're gonna have to deal with,'' Donovan said. "They've got really, really good length across the front line. They've got a lot of different lineups they can play. Getting Willie Cauley-Stein, then you add Wiltjer and (Alex) Poythress and Noel, there's a lot of length up there. Our hand is what it is in terms of our frontcourt. We collectively have gotta do a good job as a group. I've always been a big believer that it's not one guy's responsibility to take care of another guy, but we've got to do it as a team. We will need to continue to do a good job there as a team."

Nerlens Noel has been as good as advertised -- averaging 10.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and an NCAA best 103 blocked shots.

"I think he's just as good as Anthony Davis (last year's UK center and NCAA record holder) as shot-blocker. He's got unbelievable length, he's got unbelievable timing,'' Donovan said. "He's very skilled at it. He keeps himself out of foul trouble. He can alter shots in a lot of different directions and areas of the floor. We've got to play. I think we have to have a level of intelligence of driving in there and trying to shoot over the top of him. But I still think that we're a team that needs to attack the basket.''

Wilbekin: "We've got to play smart. Pat (Young) and Murph (Erik Murphy) can't get into foul trouble, and the guards have got to do a good job helping out the bigs rebounding.'

While the 'Cats continue to rebuild every year with a talented collection of freshmen, Donovan doesn't buy into continuity being an advantage for Florida.

"I think this time of year when you're 22, 23, 24 games into a season, these guys have played a lot of minutes,'' he said. "They've got a lot of games under their belts. A lot of these kids have played on a national stage. Kenny Boynton, Patric Young, Mike Rosario, Erik Murphy, these guys have played AAU. They've played college basketball. I don't think it's any different for the Kentucky kids. Those guys have played on national TV in high school. They've obviously been heavily recruited. They've played against ball players across the country. They've got 20-something games under their belt. They've got a lot of minutes under their belt. I really don't see that being that big of an issue.''

Adds Boynton: "If we don't do the right things on defense, we could give them confidence at the beginning of the game and it could be a game. So I don't think that has a factor in it.''

Of more concern, along with the 'Cats' size, is Florida's poor 3-point shooting defense of late.

"I just think that our close-outs have been a little bit shorter than normal,'' Donovan said. "We have not gotten out there. The last three games, we've given up about 41 percent from the 3-point line where it was, probably the first seven games, right around 27 percent. We need to do a better job. That is an area where we need to do a better job. We need a greater sense of urgency, understanding your personnel, understanding who we're closing out to, those kinds of thing are important.

"To start the game against Mississippi State, they go two out of their first four and we were late and we didn't need to be late on a couple of them. But that's certainly something we need to get better at. Everyone keeps talking about our defense, our defense. I think we've made some strides and we've gotten better, but I also understand as a coach how fragile all this is. Just because you're doing something well doesn't mean you're going to maintain doing something well. It's an every day commitment and a process and a focus into doing that stuff.''